


Mystery Solving Teens and the Case of the College Application

by neveralarch



Category: Hark! A Vagrant
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-24
Updated: 2010-12-24
Packaged: 2017-10-14 01:29:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/143864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neveralarch/pseuds/neveralarch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're heading toward the end of their senior year, and they're sitting in an attic waiting for ectoplasm or ethereal manifestations or something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Mystery Solving Teens and the Case of the College Application

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Aria](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aria/gifts).



We were supposed to be staking out some old lady's house, watching for the ghost of her dead sister or hamster or whatever. We were sitting on the floor of her attic, anyway, even if we weren't exactly freaking ourselves out about the ghost. I lit a cigarette, and he pulled out some sheaf of papers and started fucking with them.

"Hey," I said, "what'cha got?"

"Nothing." He pushed at his bangs like he was trying to get them out of his eyes, and shuffled the papers some more.

"Nah, it ain't nothing." I snatched a page off the top of the stack, and started to read. "College applications? What is this for, Columbia? Shit."

"Ms. Bryden said she thought I could get in," he said. "I got okay grades, and I'm interesting. Schools like interesting people."

"Yeah, sure," I said. The page I had was work experience. I took a drag off my cigarette and ran down the list. Fast food job, thing at the grocery we did freshman year, Johnson and Johnson's Specialty Detecting Agency-

"Johnson and Johnson?" I said. "What the fuck is that?"

"I asked the boss, that's what he said to put down," he said.

"His name ain't Johnson," I rubbed under my eye with the fingers that weren't holding my cigarette. "And there ain't two of him."

"Shit, I know that," he said. "I think he's trying to throw Columbia off the scent or something. Worried they'll tell the authorities about his weird fucking gig."

"I guess," I said, and threw the page back at him. "So that's it, huh? Graduate and then off to college?"

"Yeah," he said, like I was stupid or something. "What else can you do? I don't want to be sitting in attics for the rest of my fucking life, waiting for ghosts that never fucking come."

"Fuck you," I said, and I could tell my face was heating up a bit. I had been talking to the boss about staying on after high school, maybe getting a full time job. Hell, why not? We never found anything, but it paid all right. Who wanted to be stuck in school for another four years?

"Hey man, sorry," he said.

I shook my head and stared out into the dim light of the attic, silent until the cigarette burnt down while I wasn't paying attention and I had to deal with trying to swear and suck my burnt fingers at the same time. He started laughing, and I grinned back.

The ghost never did show, but that was okay.


End file.
